The Right Words
by Musician74
Summary: "You'll always be my best friend..." 'A friend. That's all I'll ever be to you, huh' Mitsu two-shot
1. Chapter 1

**The right words**

"Yeah… me too."

Ritsu walked the short distance home. The coldness of the night was beginning to take its toll on her as her hands began to get clammy and numb.

_Me, too…_

She decided she didn't want to go home just yet, so she made a left and walked towards the park and sat down on one of the benches.  
>Many memories were made in this same park. Some happy, some sad, some unnerving and some never to mentioned ever again. But… all were made together with her best friend.<p>

_Mio._

_["Mio-chan why are you crying? I'm right here, remember?"]_

A small smile made its way onto her mouth.

_[Mio-chan, let's build a sand castle as big as your house!"]_

Yes, a lot of memories for Ritsu were with Mio. She did her best at being there for the younger girl, for being a good friend to her. And it seemed to work, because that was all she seemed to be for the raven haired beauty.

_["Don't worry, Mio-chan, I'll protect you!"]_

Yes, she protected Mio very well against the dangers that lurked the park, the dangers that were all around them. But… _who_ protected Ritsu against these dangers? No one told Ritsu just how harmful it might have been for her. For her heart. Unwillingly, tears softly rolled down her cheeks. Making no effort to wipe them off, she tried to concentrate on the tingling sensation of the salty liquid streaming down her face, rather than the growing pain in her heart.

**Several hours earlier…**

"Where you headed off to, sis?"

"Goin' over to Mio's… Need to tell her something. Why? Did you need me?"

"Nah, never mind. Good luck with that, though!"

And off he was. Satoshi rarely saw his sister in such a weird mood. Almost as if she was… nervous. He laughed, thinking how she finally looked a little girlish.

Ritsu was indeed as her little brother had observed. Nervous as hell!

_Okay, tonight's gonna be it! Can't back down now. Mio knows I need to tell her something so… I seriously can't back down now…_

She walked down the stairs.

_I wonder how she'll take it… I'm hoping… good…_

She walked out the door, keys and phone in her pocket, her parents knowing where she was headed and a possible sleep over wasn't ruled out as well.

_Mio. The mere thought of her is so…_ Ritsu fought back the urge to itch out the romantic side of her.  
>She smiled as she drew closer to Mio's home.<br>Ever since they knew each other, Ritsu had always had an attraction towards her best friend.

She had wanted to tell her time and time again, but seriously, there was never a right moment to. In middle school Ritsu wanted to tell Mio after they graduated for high school and she did. It's just that Mio was too nervous the night before and before Ritsu confessed, Mio fell asleep…  
>Then she wanted to tell her during the school's festival during their first year, but Yui messed up the plan by damaging her throat and making Mio sing lead, a job that besides tiring her out, also left her shaking to no end. So instead of being a heartless jerk and put more pressure on her, she was being a selfless best friend and helped her best friend cheer up.<br>Summer time rolled around, but Mio took summer courses and so Ritsu rarely got to spend any time with her during their free month.  
>Now, Ritsu wasn't exactly one to believe in fate, but with three failed attempts at telling her childhood crush about her feelings certainly seemed like a sign to her. So she decided to put it off until the night before the publishing of their university choice results.<p>

And so here we are now…

Ritsu was in Mio's room. Her parents had just gone out to a family gathering. They left their only daughter at home so she could get her nerves under control. Now, usually Mio wasn't one who uttered a lot of words, but when she's stressed and when Ritsu's around, she pours her heart out. Double. Actually, make that triple.

"Aren't you nervous, Ritsu? I mean I am. Of course I am. And of course you know I am… I really hope we all pass. Especially you and Yui. I'm not so scared for Mugi, she looked very confident. And myself you wonder? Well, I think I did pretty well… Ooh, no… I just remembered I messed up that extra long sentence! What am I gonna do? I'm so nervous! Are you nervous? Well, I am… Do you think we'll all pass? We will, right? I mean I'm sure Mugi will, she seemed confident about her test… Aren't you nervous?"

"Jeez, relax, Mio… Of course I'm nervous…" _Although not for reasons you know… yet…_

Finally calming down just a smidge, Mio sighed heavily and sat down on her bed. Ritsu went and sat right down next to her.

"Don't worry… We'll pass… I promise I'd protect you no matter what… Remember?"

"Even in college?"

"Heck yea! I mean, college is just a fancy way of saying school right? It's just the name, Akiyama!"

"Yeah, I guess your right" Mio gave an awkward smile.

"Hey… I'll always be by your side…" Ritsu smiled sincere… and gave her best friend a hug with Mio's head buried in her strong shoulder. She wanted to continue her sentence, this being the sentence she'd wanted to speak out, the sentence she'd been wanting to tell Mio for nearly four years already. But then she felt a slight humming on her shoulder signaling Mio was talking.

"Thank you, Ritsu. I love you…"

Was this it? Mio uttered the words she had been afraid to for the past four years. Those words that seemed to not want to come out of her mouth had been said by her best friend. And she had said them so easily…

"Mio, I… love you, too."

Mio tightened their hug. "You're a good friend, Ritsu. And you always will be… You'll always be my best friend."

Time stood still for the sandy haired girl as those painful words rang in her ears.  
>A friend… Is all she'll ever be seen as. <em>A friend<em>… is all she would ever be.

_A friend, huh…_

She unconsciously tightened the embrace and murmured a faint "yeah". They stayed in that awkward hug position for a while.  
>Ritsu was dumbstruck, her body was too afraid to move. Without her realizing it, her cheeks became damp by some sort of liquid. She realized she had been crying. She quickly wiped the tears off and gently pushed Mio back. She smiled.<p>

"I don't know what I would do without you, Ritsu…"

"Yeah…" her voice was hoarse. "Me, too…"

Quickly after that, Ritsu had excused herself and said her Mom told her to be home early. Mio was reluctant to let Ritsu leave her alone, but let her go anyways.  
>And so here we are once again, in the park. The pain in her heart was till there. The heart ache was unbearable and yet… yet she was calm.<br>Ritsu leaned back and watched the moon. She checked her phone's clock. _5.15_.  
>She'd been sitting on that bench the whole night, unsubconsciously.<p>

_Heh… I might as well check out the sunset before I go home…_

True to her word, Ritsu stayed until 7.00, watching the beautiful sun kiss the horizon, signaling a brand new day. A brand new start. A fresh beginning.

_A brand new day…_

A brand new day calls for a brand new start. She smiled at the thought. Hey, it might be wrong, but it seemed like a fair thing to do.  
>She took out her phone and dialed home. Her mother picked up.<p>

"Mom… Change of plans… I… think I'm going to my second choice University…"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's depressed note;<br>**It's a pretty sad fic, so I didn't want to say it's for Ritsu's birthday... Although it kinda is

So what did you guys think? Pretty short drabble, but the longer they are, the longer it takes to read em... (That made no sense... blame it on my lack of sleep) Now, I know I know, there are a lot of Mitsu fictions out there that look like this, but something happened and it inspired me to write this. I just finished writing this so if there are any mistakes, please tell me so…  
>There's a Mio version to this as well, but I don't know if I'll post it. If I do it'll be up in about three days… if not then not… still, I'm labeling it complete….<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**The right words. Confusion**

"… You'll always be my best friend."

And it was true. Ritsu would always be Mio's best friend. No one else.  
>So then… why did it feel like she had just said something filthy?<br>Why did it feel so wrong saying that?  
>Mio was confused. It gave her this… this… painful feeling. Like that feeling you get when you lose something dear to you. She felt like that time her Mommy took her bass for maintenance without telling her and she thought someone stole it. No wait, this was ten times worse.<br>Somehow she felt her eyes tearing up. She didn't want to alarm Ritsu so she tried to fight them back, but she felt something on her head. Some sort of watery substance?

_Is she crying? Why would she be crying? Did I say something wrong?_

She didn't have time to ponder on that, because she was suddenly pulled out of the warmness that was Ritsu's wonderful and comfortable embrace. She was really glad to have such a great friend beside her.

"I don't know what I would do without you, Ritsu…" Mio smiled while looking into a pair of beautiful honey colored eyes.

"Yeah… Me too…" Mio could detect the sincerity in her voice, but deep down she felt a certain sadness weighing those words.

Soon after, Mio noticed something was wrong with Ritsu by the way she was jittery and she stuttered an awful lot as well. She tried to shrug it off and thought it was just a small fear of the results to come tomorrow.  
>Then Ritsu did something very strange. She left early. Ritsu NEVER leaves Mio's house early. Again she shrugged it off and blamed her unusual behavior on the results of tomorrow.<p>

Soon after, her parents came home. Her Mommy asked her if she was nervous and just… out of the blue she answered "I'll be fine as long as Ricchan's there."

_Ricchan? I haven't called Ritsu that since we started Middle school. And why would Ritsu really need to be there… I'm a big girl right?_

Mio decided to get some sleep. Or at least… she tried to get some sleep. She tossed and turned until she couldn't take it anymore. She needed to walk this off. This… this…

_What is __**this**__ anyways?_

Mio sighed as she wore some jeans and a jersey to keep her warm.  
>She checked the time. <em>5.30.<em>

_Might as well go for a walk to clear my head…_

Mio couldn't shake off the feeling that currently resided within her body. It was a mixture of…

Fear… _Of course I'd be scared… I mean the results are being posted today! W-wah-what if Ritsu isn't going to be with me? What if… No! She will be… I know she will…_

Regret…_Yeah… I regret not having to put more pressure on the idiot for not studying… I hope it turns out okay…_

Confusion… So why was she feeling confused? And more over… Why didn't her own explanations feel accurate to her feelings?  
>Without realizing it, she reached a familiar park. She walked closer and closer to the center as nostalgia ran her over like a truck…<p>

_There by the swings… is where Ritsu first talked to me… actually talked to me… asked me what was wrong with me…_

Mio started walking towards the swing set.

_There was where the idiot wanted to build a castle as big as my house…_

Mio smiled. She hadn't been to this park since she entered Sakuragaoka. It was good to be here again…

_Nothing's changed… Well, except for that hedge in front of me…_

Mio checked her phone's clock._ 6.10._

_Since I am here… I guess I could enjoy the sunset before I head home again…_

Inhaling the freshness of the morning air, she sat down on one of the swings started reminiscing.

_["Ne, Mio-chan, don't cry! See? I'm fine!"]_

Mio smiled as she could just imagine a little Ritsu running towards her with a scrape on her knee.

_["Ricchan, promise you won't leave me…"]_

_Yeah… Promise me you'll never leave me, Ritsu… I do love you… More than you could ever know…_

Just then, the sun came in all its wonderful glory, its bright and clear rays radiated, removing all the horrible shadows, clearing the fog that had been hanging around the park.  
>Thinking she had seen the sun rise, she wanted to go back home. That was, until she saw someone stand up from behind the hedge. She could recognize the yellow headband anywhere.<p>

_Ritsu._

She smiled. She stood up to call out to Ritsu when she heard her talking.

"Mom… Change of plans… I… think I'm going to my second choice University…"

_What? No…_

Mio felt her knees getting weak.

_No… She's joking right?_

"I just… realized I want different things, Mom… No, Mio doesn't know yet… but I'm sure she'd understand…"

Tears formed at the corners of her eyes, her vision soon became blurry.

_How could she think that… She… she promised me… she said so… she'd…_

Tears stained her porcelain cheeks and a horrible pain in her chest signaled her that this wasn't a dream. She collapsed back onto the swing.

"Yeah… maybe it's time Mio and I… went our own separate way"

_No! No No No! How could she? She promised!_

"Why, Ricchan…?" Mio whispered, her voice too low for Ritsu to hear. She couldn't understand why Ritsu would do such a thing. Ritsu never broke a promise to Mio and yet…

_["I love you too, Mio"]_

_No, it couldn't be…_

_["I love you too, Mio"]_

_Does that mean she…?_

"[Sigh]… I'm sorry, Mio… but I don't want to just be a best friend… I want more… but apparently you're not willing to give it to me…"

Mio watched as a blurry Ritsu walked away while saying that to herself. Mio heard it perfectly clear though…and not knowing what to do, what to think, she ran. She ran as fast as she could. She ran past Ritsu, faintly hearing a confused "Mio?" behind her. She didn't care. The pain was too much for her. Where was her Ritsu who promised to protect her? Where was the Ritsu who promised to stay by her side forever?  
>Mio ran as fast as she could. She couldn't go home; Ritsu would just go there after seeing her. She ran to the one place no one knew she would be… the small forest near Yui's house.<br>Once there, she collapsed behind a small bush, crying her eyes out.

"I hate you, Ritsu… I hate you… I hate you so much… I…"

"I hate me as well…"

Behind Mio was a sad smiling Ritsu.

"How did you catch up to me?" Mio tried to whipe the tears away, but more came in their place.

"Eventhough I'm shorter than you, I'm faster, remember?" Ritsu sat down next to Mio.

"Look… it's for the best, Mio… I want what you can't give me… It's gonna hurt us both if we stay together and pretend. I seriously wouldn't be able to… I mean I couldn't possibly…"

"But…"

"No." Ritsu stood up. "Look, Mio. You don't know how painful it was when you told me I was a… a… You don't know how much it hurt… here…" Ritsu held her hand close to her heart, showing where _here_ actually was.

"I'm sorry, Ricchan…" Mio also stood up. "Then I guess… This is it, huh…"

"I'll always love you Mio… There is no one else for me…"

Ritsu kissed the raven haired girl on the cheek and waved goodbye. Somehow, seeing Ritsu walk away felt like a big part of Mio was going along with her.

"I'm sorry, Ritsu… If only I had the guts to tell you as well…"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's seriously depressed note:<br>**Well, due to my reviewers' request I added this here Mio chapter. Sorry, guys, but seriously… this was bound to end sadly… Sorry 'bout that…  
>Review? Your choice… I hope you enjoyed it…<p>

Dja ne~


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